APU

Two thousand ten is coming to a close and I figured I'd better post about it before 2011! At the conclusion of the Rossland mini tour, our team dispersed to our relative locales for a short, one week break before resuming the racing season for US Natio...

Women's podium left to right: Caitlin Compton, Holly (me) & Jessie DigginsIt was a fast and furious 5k race today!  Perhaps the fastest 5k that I've ever raced with a final time of 12:06!  The course skied like two big intervals with lots...

Women's podium left to right: Caitlin Compton, Holly (me) & Jessie DigginsIt was a fast and furious 5k race today!  Perhaps the fastest 5k that I've ever raced with a final time of 12:06!  The course skied like two big intervals with lots...

I'm laying on the couch right now with my legs elevated after just finishing the Teck Skate Sprint in Rossland.  The first day of the mini tour is over, only two more days of racing in this period before headed back to Alaska to my own bed, my cat...

I'm laying on the couch right now with my legs elevated after just finishing the Teck Skate Sprint in Rossland.  The first day of the mini tour is over, only two more days of racing in this period before headed back to Alaska to my own bed, my cat...

This is going to be a pretty short post because I have a race tomorrow and I am TIRED. It's easy to forget how much a full sprint, complete with heats can be fatiguing.  Thanks to my husband Rob Whitney for coming down to the races to cheer me on ...

Yesterday we had a team photo session. Seeing that I was in the full team and girls team shots, I didn't get those on my camera.  But, I did get my own copy of the boys team - or at least those who are here in Silver Star right now.....  Left...

I know that everyone's been saying it but this place is SWEET! Silver Star has been called heaven, paradise, the best place to ski in North America, etc, etc.  It's probably all of those things that therein lies the problem.  When you have ra...

The snow has finally subsided, the race timer and jury has finally made it to town and tomorrow, we're off!   Since arriving in West Yellowstone five days ago this is the first time it's stopped snowing.  APU girls "deck diving" into the wais...

And….. we’re off!!!! As I write this I’m currently sitting on the airplane enroute to early season racing in West Yellowstone.  It’s a gorgeous, clear day and 30,000 feet reveals much of Alaskan’s grandeur.  It’s fun to look out...

This is what the APU team did....Hatcher's this morning was our first time on snow since our week of skiing on Eagle Glacier in August.  I felt awkward for approximately two minutes before the roller ski/snow ski adjustment set in.  I suppose...

Twenty eight days until what?  Until my first race! Not that I'm counting or anything....! But really, I am ready.  Mentally at the very least.  There are skiers who mostly love training. There are skiers who mostly love racing.  I ...

I am sure that anyone that strives for success in anything suffers with the issue of balance..... there are always questions of how much, when, why...  Or, if you're me, the habit of taking on many different projects.  I think that many Nordi...

So.... I booked tickets to Hawaii during Alaska's 35 day-long summer rain spell.  While "what doesn't kill you will make you stronger" has some truth to it, the weather was a bit brutal. When I saw sale tickets to Hawaii plus a chance to use my co...

span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial; font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"This post isn't about ski racing per say, and it isn't about me. It's about my sister, Robin, who just completed an epic journey, all 16,184 miles of it. nbsp;/span/divdiv style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TJg9IERJ_aI/AAAAAAAABdU/3sEhIpD0pjM/s1600/DSCF1094.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TJg9IERJ_aI/AAAAAAAABdU/3sEhIpD0pjM/s320/DSCF1094.JPG" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://rwsb.blogspot.com/"http://rwsb.blogspot.com//a/divdiv style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"br //divdiv style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"Last week she completed her "year of biking." nbsp;She started at our family home in Seattle, biked down the west coast, (took a break to fly back for the Olympics!) then across the US/Mexican border during the winter months, zig-zagged across the East Coast, and returned West through Canada. nbsp;She had no plans, no steady biking companions, and spent most of her nights "stealth camping." nbsp;Yep - she's a 25 year old female that did it all by herself! nbsp;And if you're wondering, stealth camping means sleeping in places that you don't pay for ie, the side of the road behind the camouflage of bushes or one of her last nights, a baseball dugout. During her travels she kept an awesome blog. You can read Robin's final post about her adventure and the other 56 posts if you are so inclined./span/divdiv style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TJg-IFJNZDI/AAAAAAAABdc/KvPBjJ8LYRs/s1600/DSCF1085.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TJg-IFJNZDI/AAAAAAAABdc/KvPBjJ8LYRs/s320/DSCF1085.JPG" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"Robin had (and still has!) a wicked tan line from her bike shorts.... she's currently growing the helmet hair out and yes, she rocked the APU training shirt all over the country!/divdiv style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"br //divdiv style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"br //span/divdiv style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"In the meantime, here are some of Robin's stats, taken directly from her blog:nbsp;a href="http://rwsb.blogspot.com/"http://rwsb.blogspot.com//a/span/divdiv style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"br //span/divdiv style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"The Final Tally for 365 days on the road:br /br /Miles: 16,184 (26, 045 km)br /Flats: 41 (none since way back in Vermont!)br /Tubes: 15br /Tires: 7br /Jars of Nut Butter: 38br /Nights under a roof: 128br /States: 30br /Provinces: 4br /National Parks, etc: 38br /Bike-free days: 58br /100+ mile days: 21br /Rain: 87br /Riding in Rain: 48br /Riding with companions: 29br /Books: 24br /Spontaneous hosts: 6br /Ferries: 8br /Farms: 2br /Rear Wheels: 3br /Warmshowers/Couchsurfing hosts: 17br /Bike shorts: 3br /Tubes Chamois B'tter: 3br /Sicknesses: 3br /Sunglasses: 3br /Nights paid for: 13/span/span/divdiv style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"br //span/span/divdiv style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"Call her crazy, call her brave, call her adventuresome. nbsp;As her older sister, I am incredibly proud of her independence, her ambition, and her sense of adventure. She had an amazing year, met absolutely fantastic, genuine people, and had an experience that many of us will never dream of. nbsp;Let her be an inspiration. I know that I will - and do! nbsp;Congratulations Robs.... so glad you're back safe!/span/span/divdiv style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"br //span/span/divdiv style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"You may ask, "Now what?" nbsp;Well, I'm happy to say that there's going to be another Brooks in West Yellowstone this year! nbsp;Yep, my sister took a job as the head coach of Glacier Nordic based out of Whitefish, Montana. nbsp;nbsp;/span/span/divdiv style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"br //span/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TJg_B6xgcjI/AAAAAAAABdk/OqyucTt1Dck/s1600/scan0019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" height="202" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TJg_B6xgcjI/AAAAAAAABdk/OqyucTt1Dck/s400/scan0019.jpg" width="400" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"Sweet pic of our family in 1993. Robin's in the front, left and I'm in the middle of my parents wearing one of those sweet fleece barrets that were so cool!nbsp;/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"In other news, fall is definitely here in Anchorage, smell of rotten leaves and all. More on that and the upcoming ski racing season to come - stay tuned!nbsp;/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"Holly :)nbsp;/divdiv style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"br //span/div/spandivbr //div/span/span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6401505974719455979-1032321273891116859?l=hollyskis.blogspot.com' alt='' //div

It's been a long time in the making but a couple of weeks ago I officially became a full-time skier and a part time coach. That's right, I reversed my roles. I used to be a full time coach and part time athlete. nbsp;Now, it's the opposite. nbsp;I have to say, life is still as busy as ever but it's good. I'm not complaining!br /br /div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TIlTcUeIHdI/AAAAAAAABcs/ytUDMRrW708/s1600/Fall+Red.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TIlTcUeIHdI/AAAAAAAABcs/ytUDMRrW708/s320/Fall+Red.jpg" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv style="text-align: center;"Fall colors are already out in Anchorage. nbsp;This picture is from Glen Alpsnbsp;/divbr /I have many people to thank for helping make this change possible. nbsp;First and foremost, my husband Rob has been awesome. As an ex-ski racer himself, he knows "the good, the bad, and the ugly" of ski racing. My employers, Alaska Pacific University and my boss/coach, Erik Flora have been encouraging and flexible. nbsp;My co-workers, Eric Strabel and Dylan Watts have taken on larger responsibilities at work. While I used to be a head coach of two programs I am now an assistant coach. nbsp;I still get to interact with other athletes on a daily basis (which I love to do) but have handed the decision making and planning off to these two guys. br /br /And now the shameless plug to my sponsors..... why? Because they make being a ski racer possible physically, financially, emotionally, and logistically. nbsp;Financing your own athletic career and paying for everything from race entries to roller ski wheels and over-sized baggage fees is expensive and I'm happy to say that because of my generous sponsors I'm not accruing credit card debt in the process. nbsp;I know that not every ski racer has the support that I have and I am very lucky to be so fortunate. nbsp;I think the saying, "it takes a village to raise a child" relates to skiing 100%. nbsp;It certainly takes a community to raise an athlete. nbsp;Anchorage is a wonderful, vibrant place to be a ski racer and I hope that I can give as much back to the community as I receive. nbsp;But back to my sponsors - they are listed in the column to the right. nbsp;Some have supported me with cash donations, and others with in-kind support. nbsp;They have all been wonderful to work with and I appreciate their support immensely!!!!! nbsp;Please check out my sponsor's links by clicking on the company logo and (when applicable) help me by utilizing their services!!!br /br /What else?br /br /Its been a busy month .... honestly characterized by some less thannbsp;desirablenbsp;weather. nbsp;Here in Alaska we actually broke the record for consecutive rainy days, something like 34 (?) days straight of rain!? nbsp;Working outside is a blessing when it's sunny out but for the straight month plus of rain lets just say it was character building! :) br /br /Here are a couple of pictures from recent days....br /br /div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TIlURHCMAFI/AAAAAAAABc8/9v-SrBSV5wo/s1600/IMG_1723.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TIlURHCMAFI/AAAAAAAABc8/9v-SrBSV5wo/s320/IMG_1723.JPG" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"A bunch of us went to the state fair for "Olympian Day" the friday before Labor Day. nbsp;The day was spent signing autographs, taking pictures, and answering questions/telling stories about the games. nbsp;Pictured are Callan (snow boarding) me, Kerry (hockey) and my APU teammates, James and Kikkan.nbsp;/divbr /div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TIlS4cPqxgI/AAAAAAAABck/n3QMjbB01o0/s1600/cabbage+lifting!.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TIlS4cPqxgI/AAAAAAAABck/n3QMjbB01o0/s320/cabbage+lifting!.jpg" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"Kikkan and I wandered around the fair after our event and found time for another workout with these cabbage weights! nbsp;I also saw the record breaking pumpkin weighing in at 1101 pounds!nbsp;/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br /a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TIlUwzwWdxI/AAAAAAAABdE/X1WL7K521sQ/s1600/IMG_1735.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TIlUwzwWdxI/AAAAAAAABdE/X1WL7K521sQ/s320/IMG_1735.JPG" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"This picture basically sums up a lot of our weather...nbsp;/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"And when its less thannbsp;desirablenbsp;its even nicer to have teammates to train with. nbsp;Here is an "after shot" of me, Katie, and Kikkan after a great (and dry!) three hour skate ski last weekend. nbsp;Training with others is the best. nbsp;Never underestimate the power of having a team!/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TIlTuD6zitI/AAAAAAAABc0/YaLt-KkzuAk/s1600/teammates.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TIlTuD6zitI/AAAAAAAABc0/YaLt-KkzuAk/s320/teammates.jpg" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"That's it for now - more to come so stay tuned!nbsp;/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"Holly :)/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6401505974719455979-4228010061423814940?l=hollyskis.blogspot.com' alt='' //div

div style="text-align: center;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre;"i"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"bIt's amazing how bad one must feel in order to feel good"/b/span/i/span/divspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre;"i /i/span/spanbr /span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre;"I've thought about this quote or idea a couple of times in the last month. As athletes we spend annbsp;amazing amount of energy training and pushing our bodies and minds. The end goal is to be strong, fit, and preform at a high level. In order to cross that finish line first in December I must be so tired that taking out the garbage in August feels like a major endeavor. There is a saying that skiers are imade in the summer/i and those are the hours and efforts I am feeling today as I type this blog. /span/spanbr /span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre;" /span/spanbr /div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDgi_b3yTI/AAAAAAAABbE/syll5edUnr8/s1600/IMG_1338.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDgi_b3yTI/AAAAAAAABbE/syll5edUnr8/s320/IMG_1338.JPG" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"ispan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"The Thomas Training Center which sits on the edge of Eagle Glacier, over looking /span/iispan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"Girdwood/span/i/divspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre;" /span/spanbr /span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre;"I just returned from a week-long on-snow camp on Eagle glacier where I trained 25 hours last week. Life was simple and it was great to be in a place where skiing was the focus - and the only focus. At Eagle cell reception is poor at best and there is no Internet. Days are spent skiing twice, resting, fueling the body (eating) performing camp chores, taking care of equipment, and spending valuable time watching and assessing videos of ourselves skiing in past training sessions. It's restful in the sense that there are few distractions and tiring in the sense that the training is hard. Eagle glacier sits at 5500 feet so there is a slight altitude effect but perhaps the bigger factor is that the snow is often extremely slow due to the high moisture content. (This is a nice way of saying that it rains a lot!) The living accommodations are plush - we have good food, hot showers, and endless pots of coffee but there isn't a lot of living space. Twenty five people share one building: one kitchen, two toilets, and sleep in bunk beds. If you're the claustrophobic type, Eagle Glacier is not for you. Besides skiing at designated times there is no where to go. One night I got antsy and resorted to walking laps around the building to stretch my legs in a non-ski specific way. /span/spanbr /span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre;"br //span/spanbr /div style="text-align: center;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre;"Here are a couple of pictures to tell the story of the past week: /span/span/divspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre;" /span/spanbr /div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDns4M-vXI/AAAAAAAABb0/sZsbI4U4VFk/s1600/IMG_1228.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDns4M-vXI/AAAAAAAABb0/sZsbI4U4VFk/s320/IMG_1228.JPG" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"ispan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"Athletes fly rather than hike the 5,000 feet to the glacier to optimize training for the week/span/i/divspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre;" /span/spanbr /div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDRHiFpYDI/AAAAAAAABZc/FvUK5BMstUA/s1600/IMG_1231.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDRHiFpYDI/AAAAAAAABZc/FvUK5BMstUA/s320/IMG_1231.JPG" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"iKeith taking us up valley/i/span/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDS9apE5VI/AAAAAAAABZk/tQdnuPaeLEM/s1600/IMG_1244.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDS9apE5VI/AAAAAAAABZk/tQdnuPaeLEM/s320/IMG_1244.JPG" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"iWe had four guest skiers attend August camp, visiting from other top programs in the country. nbsp;Here Brian Gregg, a childhood friend from Winthrop, Washington is psyched about the first day of skiing!/i/span/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDTtWnIyjI/AAAAAAAABZs/c184NDKTYNo/s1600/IMG_1259.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDTtWnIyjI/AAAAAAAABZs/c184NDKTYNo/s320/IMG_1259.JPG" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"ispan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"Not bad for the first ski of the week.....nbsp;/span/i/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDUY3hhIII/AAAAAAAABZ0/fXGdO_3PXiY/s1600/IMG_1264.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDUY3hhIII/AAAAAAAABZ0/fXGdO_3PXiY/s320/IMG_1264.JPG" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"iThis picture is a personal favorite and also my computer desktop right now. nbsp;The black dots you see near the horizon are skiers. nbsp;When Eagle Glacier is nice, it's heaven on earth - or heaven in Alaska!/i/span/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDW9gfHZpI/AAAAAAAABaE/sV7hFQqZU3U/s1600/IMG_9469.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" height="267" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDW9gfHZpI/AAAAAAAABaE/sV7hFQqZU3U/s400/IMG_9469.JPG" width="400" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"iErik Flora took this picture of Bart. He did NOT use photo shop. Personally I think it's worthy of being in the next /i/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"iSwix/i/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"i catalog!/i/span/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDVdPxRG1I/AAAAAAAABZ8/V-nSvPx1bZw/s1600/IMG_9558.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" height="267" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDVdPxRG1I/AAAAAAAABZ8/V-nSvPx1bZw/s400/IMG_9558.JPG" width="400" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"iAPU/i/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"i Girls team plus Nicole /i/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"iDeyong/i/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"i. Left to right: Greta, Katie, Nicole, /i/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"iKalysta/i/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"i, myself, /i/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"iTaz/i/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"i, Sadie, Becca, Fitz, and Morgan!/i/span/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //diva href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDX8yJy1kI/AAAAAAAABaM/aZHDRAQD4Yg/s1600/IMG_1296.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDX8yJy1kI/AAAAAAAABaM/aZHDRAQD4Yg/s320/IMG_1296.JPG" //abr /div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"iDon't let Eagle Glacier fool you. nbsp;For every blue-bird t-shirt wearing ski we had we had two or three skis in complete fog, wind, rain, or a combination of the three. nbsp;Eagle glacier never lets you forget what it is - that is, a true, live and active glacier. nbsp;The weather can change in five minutes and sometimes the visibility is non-existent. nbsp;I've skied laps of our 6 kilometer course based on memory of the turns and guided by the orange wands that are every couple hundred of feet./i/span/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDZ9Yk6s_I/AAAAAAAABac/ygq7L31BkO8/s1600/IMG_1295.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDZ9Yk6s_I/AAAAAAAABac/ygq7L31BkO8/s320/IMG_1295.JPG" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"iDue to conditions like the picture you see above the drying room is an ESSENTIAL element of the training facility. Basic protocol is to step inside the building after a ski and strip all the wet layers off to hang (and theoretically dry) for the next workout. nbsp;It's not unusual to see teammates leave the drying room wearing only wool underwear - stop to get a granola bar from the kitchen, and retreat to their rooms to change into dry sweatpants....nbsp;/i/span/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDZap8Up4I/AAAAAAAABaU/J3y96iyw6jg/s1600/IMG_1299.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" height="300" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDZap8Up4I/AAAAAAAABaU/J3y96iyw6jg/s400/IMG_1299.JPG" width="400" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"iIn the week that we were on Eagle the snow changed considerably. nbsp;August is often the last month that the glacier doesn't get considerable amounts of new snow. Therefore, by the last day of camp the snow is dirty. nbsp;Here's a close up of the snow directly off the ski trail. nbsp;Every day and every ski there was more snow algae and what could possibly be leftover volcanic ash from last year's explosion of Redoubt?/i/span/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDalmVU5sI/AAAAAAAABak/aIX9anzlQqw/s1600/IMG_1313.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDalmVU5sI/AAAAAAAABak/aIX9anzlQqw/s320/IMG_1313.JPG" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"iHere Katie and Morgan cut peppers for Fajita night. nbsp;Athletes are divided up into work crews and have camp chores every day. nbsp;Group dinners are often a team highlight/i/span/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDbK0km3vI/AAAAAAAABas/xXVYMb87C6I/s1600/IMG_1280.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDbK0km3vI/AAAAAAAABas/xXVYMb87C6I/s320/IMG_1280.JPG" //a/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"ispan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"Erik and Casey work hard at these camps to ensure that everything goes smoothly for the athletes. nbsp;I know this first hand as I am one of the few athletes who has been on Eagle to work and has also been on Eagle to train. nbsp;They groom during the night so we have good skiing in the morning and spend the days setting tracks, taking video at sessions, completely endless hours of technique review with athletes - all of this on top of making sure all of our remote systems are in working order. nbsp;It's impressive./span/i/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"Ispan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"in the photo above Erik demonstrates the end of a skate motion to Jack, one of our top junior athletes that came to his second glacier camp of the summer! nbsp;Erik has an amazing eye for technique detail and can dissect your every movement. nbsp;He has concrete suggestions for improvement and is happy to show you example after example in World Cup and Olympic footage. nbsp;He doesn't mess around./i/span/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //diva href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDdNKneAkI/AAAAAAAABa0/PmAnmqXcQP8/s1600/IMG_1319.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDdNKneAkI/AAAAAAAABa0/PmAnmqXcQP8/s320/IMG_1319.JPG" //abr /span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"iHere Erik and Casey get to enjoy a rare ski (theynbsp;arenbsp;oftennbsp;toonbsp;busynbsp;tonbsp;putnbsp;onnbsp;skisnbsp;themselves!)/i/spanbr /div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //diva href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDfkjizDkI/AAAAAAAABa8/LYs93u7qpL8/s1600/DSC00041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" height="225" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDfkjizDkI/AAAAAAAABa8/LYs93u7qpL8/s400/DSC00041.JPG" width="400" //abr /div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"ispan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"Not bad...../span/inbsp;/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //diva href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDmm9t39MI/AAAAAAAABbs/jSRzk5w0BBQ/s1600/IMG_1336.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDmm9t39MI/AAAAAAAABbs/jSRzk5w0BBQ/s320/IMG_1336.JPG" //abr /ispan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"/span/ibr /div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //diva href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDjUp7fyuI/AAAAAAAABbM/VlOU8anzGPk/s1600/IMG_1352.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDjUp7fyuI/AAAAAAAABbM/VlOU8anzGPk/s320/IMG_1352.JPG" //abr /span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"iAt the end of the week most athletes opt to hike down from the glacier.... it's a good experience and saves the cost of an additional helicopter ride. nbsp;You can expect to be sore from the 5000 foot decent. I am./i/spanbr /div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //diva href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDlD6gPjII/AAAAAAAABbk/ZtQFJcOeNl8/s1600/IMG_1357.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDlD6gPjII/AAAAAAAABbk/ZtQFJcOeNl8/s320/IMG_1357.JPG" //abr /div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"iAlpine flowers/i/span/divdiv class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //diva href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDkakHhmmI/AAAAAAAABbc/n-7m5GKGzUA/s1600/IMG_1367.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDkakHhmmI/AAAAAAAABbc/n-7m5GKGzUA/s320/IMG_1367.JPG" //abr /span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"iThe hike involves some sensory overload, especially with the vibrant colors of the foliage. nbsp;The wildflowers and lush nature of the vegetation are always a welcome sight!/i/spanbr /div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"br //diva href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDjuNLgX5I/AAAAAAAABbU/bah3Cu0R7bs/s1600/IMG_1331.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Wl4EmOZ6xTM/TGDjuNLgX5I/AAAAAAAABbU/bah3Cu0R7bs/s320/IMG_1331.JPG" //abr /br /All in all, the camp was incredibly productive. The training was great, I received tons of valuable feedback and technique adaptations from Erik, and I feel as though I put some serious "money in the bank." nbsp;(Meaning, the work from the last week will pay dividends come winter race season.) nbsp;Now it's time to make sure that I get the proper recovery before jumping back on the horse. nbsp;It's difficult while work, emails, and phone calls have piled up but I'm doing my best to prioritize rest. nbsp;That said, if I haven't returned your call yet, I will soon! Thanks for being patient!br /br /Thanks for reading.... more to come,br /Holly :)br /span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre;"br //span/spanbr /span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre;"br //span/spanbr /span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre;"br //span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6401505974719455979-5655097058717673364?l=hollyskis.blogspot.com' alt='' //div